Posts in "Activism"

If you have followed me for some time then you know that what drives me is arming the freedom movement with the tools, skills, and experience necessary to drive political success. That is one of the reasons that this is such an exciting moment.

The Rand Paul primary campaign has been an exercise in message discipline, image control, and managerial competence that should be broadly admired and studied within the movement. It also makes the last week somewhat puzzling, but does provide some important lessons for aspiring political strategists and campaign staffers.

There are important principles in political event planning. One is “Never book a room you can’t fill.” Another is “Never miss an opportunity to use visuals to re-enforce your campaign narrative.” Related to the second is “Never contradict your desired narrative.”

For those of you who are pressed for time or haven't even heard about this contest yet, our "End the Fed" sign contest has been extended to June 11th. Send a photo or actual sign in to enter into the contest. Stacy Litz, from the Drexel University Student Liberty Front will be compiling all entries to form an online gallery, a way to turn our signs into art forms of the First Amendment.Once June 11th arrives, the submission line will be closed and the signs will be put up for ALL to vote upon. The TOP 5 signs will find their way into the hands of rebels and disgruntled citizens in the film Silver Circle. Here's a way to get some use out of that sign until November when the next End the Fed rally comes around. Any monetary policy signs and End the Fed signs are welcome.

If you have any questions or to RSVP to the event visit the event page on facebook.

Spread the word on your blogs and social networking pages so we can create an amazing online gallery as well as have some original signs to place into the animated hands of our Rebels in Silver Circle. To learn more about the film visit our website here.

Silver Circle is producing an animated film about a rebel group that takes on the mighty Fed. In this futuristic tale, heavy inflation takes over as the financial institution's power grows.

The cool parts about this film are all the ways to get involved. Through the whole month of May you can submit your photos of signs or send the actual sign to be included in the movie to the address or e-mail listed here in the Facebook event. Any protest signs you would like to send it that are relevant to monetary policy and the Fed are welcome!

The students at Drexel University's Student Liberty Front as well as Silver Circle will hold an online gallery of the photos where, after the submission period has ended, everyone can vote on their favorites.

Over the last three weeks, a fued has erupted on the opinion section of the Vacaville Reporter. The first letter was written to defend the TEA Partiers despite their fallacies, and can be found here. The response to that letter which ran the next week accused anti-state citizens of being wrong about the GM Bailout in light of the recent "loan repayment." Below is my response, which was published in Saturday's edition.

I find it amusing that the author of recent letter ("Feds disproving Tea Party," April 29) could be so off from obviously not reading the second half of the story about GM's bailout loan.

Yes, GM paid back its $6.7 billion government loan; however, GM received part of the funds to do that because the federal government had given it some $13.4 billion in an escrow account during the bankruptcy, according to www.yaliberty.org. The rest of the funds are only available because GM is collecting a whopping $10.5 billion in taxpayer-backed loans from the Department of Transportation for updating the company to better comply with Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, according to POLITICO. This money will eventually have to be paid back, but is interest-free.

Hey guys, here are the responses to the question everybody had for Romaine Quinn a while back.

YAL: What do you consider yourself politically (conservative, libertarian, etc.) and why?

RQ: As I've said before, I follow the teachings of Ron Paul, so I would consider myself a Libertarian-leaning Republican/Conservative. I fit the party line on most issues, except for a couple such as certain parts of the patriot act, President Bush's own little stimulus package, and those Republicans who advocate comprehensive immigration reform that would allow for amnesty and loose border control.

YAL: How much money did the campaign cost, and how did you raise the money?

RQ: As for a campaign cost, I only spend around $2,000. I recieved some donations from supporters but otherwise I just paid for it out of pocket.

Am I the only one to notice the overuse and abuse by both major parties of the perjorative term "un-American"? As an active supporter of the modern day tea party movement, I urge those of us who wish to be effective in grassroots politics to strive to use accurate and honest language when referring to our opponents and play fair in this debate even if they won't.

Fight for principle and live by the words you cherish. Remember that your words define you. Don't be discouraged in our shared fight for a greater respect of indiviual liberty. Remind yourself at Tea Parties to read great works of daily publications like: Taki-Mag, American Conservative Magazine, Lew Rockwell,Mises Institute, and even this blog. Don't be afraid to be firm in your opinions; over the past three years that I've been involved in politics, I have been discouraged, shouted down, and harassed more by people who were simply ignorant of how much I actually agreed with them than by anybody on the opposition. And to close I have to say in the words of the great Lew Rockwell:

Friday April 23rd, Young Americans for Liberty Rutgers Chapter was lucky enough to be a part of Jordan Page's Liberty College Tour.

Congressional candidates for New Jersey -- Donna Ward and Fernando Powers -- spoke on the need for liberty-minded activism not only via voting but through election day volunteering to ensure the one person-one vote principle. I played a few original songs and YAL-RU tabled, talked, and handed out myriad copies of "For Liberty" in a successful attempt to both bolster the chapter's membership and raise awareness of liberty ideals, the message of peaceful revolution, and a return to constitutional government.

Members of the Targum, Rutgers' mainstream media outlet, participated, photographed, and tapped their toes to Jordan's down-home songs. Several presenters, both students and professors, taking part in an academic symposium across the street came out to listen and show their support for the movement and the message of limited government, fiscal responsibility, sensible foreign policy, and individual liberty. By the end of the afternoon after several hours of fun, music, and activism, Jordan and I were already planning next year's visit -- which will be much larger in scale. His encouragement and endorsement of the chapter will not be in vain. This is just the start of the scarlet tidal wave of liberty that will be YAL-RU.

UTSA, like most other Texas universities, had a student government ballot vote in which the student body could vote on allocating a fee to a green fund. While we have NO problem going green, we do have a problem with people trying to take our money and spend it for us. We encouraged voluntary donations over a mandate, and advocated for working within the existing budget of the University to cut cost. The results are not in yet (will be on noon Monday), but the fight was a good one. The fee has been pasted virtually everwhere, including Texas A&M, where students also fought the change.

I'm sure many of you have seen the "Duck Tales Explain Inflation" video on YouTube. I added a presentation at the end as a public argument for one of my classes at the University of Arizona to explain what Ron Paul so often talks which is that the poor and middle class "get stuck with the bill" when it comes to the Federal Reserve and its inflationary policies.

Monetary policy is a huge learning process for many of us I think, so any insight into the process shown in this video is much appreciated!